


The Next Step

by totallyrhettro



Series: Young Love [2]
Category: Rhett & Link
Genre: Awkward Kissing, Boys Kissing, First Kiss, Fluff, Happy endings guaranteed, Kissing, M/M, Teen Romance, Teenagers, rhink, teen rhink
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-01-05
Updated: 2019-01-05
Packaged: 2019-10-04 23:28:11
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,206
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/17313851
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/totallyrhettro/pseuds/totallyrhettro
Summary: Rhett and Link move into the next phase of their changed relationship.





	The Next Step

Rhett was walking on air. He had been struggling with his strange affections for Link, his best friend, for many months now. While they’d been friends for about a decade, it wasn’t until recently that he understood how he wanted to be more than just friends. He didn’t know when it had started; it was subtle, creeping up inside without a hint and then settling in before he had a chance to react. Exactly when his love had changed from something platonic to something more, he couldn’t guess, but he did know the exact moment when he realized that he was in deep.  


It was last year, in their sophomore biology class. The teacher, Ms. Lee, had separated them into pairs to dissect and examine the anatomy of earthworms. As soon as the teacher told the class that they would be pairing up, Rhett and Link shared looks, but their hopes were dashed when she explained that she would be picking the pairs. It wasn’t all bad; Rhett’s partner was a kid named Justin, a friendly guy that they didn’t really hang out with. Link was partnered up with Tracy, one of the best looking girls in the school. A few of the other boys looked on with envy as the two of them stood together, including Rhett, but his jealousy was directly slightly differently.

Still, it was a fleeting moment, a slight surge of emotion that faded almost instantly. It was there and gone before he could even register it, and soon he was too distracted with his own project to give them much notice. Over the next few minutes, Ms. Lee went over each part of the worm, pointing out on the overhead projector the different body parts the students were looking at. Most of the other students were grossed out, but Rhett and Link sifted through the open corpses of their worms with unphased stomachs. Link even found it rather interesting. There was more inside of an earthworm than he had previously assumed.

Eventually they got to the bottom of the worms. It didn’t take too long, the creatures being as short as they were. Ms. Lee used the projector to show what amounted to the end of the worms’ digestive tracts.

“...and here’s the anus of the worm,” she said, showing the class. There were more than a few giggles, but she ignored them. She was used to high school student behavior by now. Rolling her eyes she turned back to the lesson, but Link still thought it was highly amusing. Picking up the formaldehyde-soaked body part, he showed it to Tracy.

“Hey,” he grinned. “You dare me to eat the anus?” It was mostly to entertain himself, but he thought he was being rather amusing. Tracy, on the other hand, scrunched her face up at him, lifting her hands up in a cringe just in case her lab partner decided to touch her with the offending object.

“Ugh, no!” she exclaimed. “ _Gross_ , Link!” Her voice went unnoticed by the teacher, but Rhett heard her squeal and turned to see what the fuss was about. He looked to see the young girl looking very disgusted at Link who, meanwhile, was leaning over the table at her, waggling his eyebrows seductively. While he was trying to be funny, from a distance he looked almost flirty, and it was rare that Rhett ever saw his friend try to be sexy for someone. He wasn’t that kind of guy. Normally he was quite shy and awkward around girls. The sight left a very strange feeling in Rhett’s heart and he did not like it.

As Rhett was trying to figure out what this new feeling was, Link popped the tiny worm’s anus into his mouth and swallowed it, just like a pill. Tracy dry heaved and moved away from him. Rhett was very impressed actually, and he figured that Link was trying to impress the girl, too. Luckily she didn’t seem to want to have anything else to do with the dark-haired boy, if she could help it. Not after _that_ performance. 

‘ _Why am I relieved at that?_ ’ Rhett wondered. He should have been happy that his best friend was making an effort to get a girlfriend. It would be the first time that he made the first move when it came to the opposite sex. Yet Rhett was only pleased once it looked like Link was striking out. Why did that make him happy? The sinking feeling had come back to his chest again, and he finally saw it for what it was. Jealously. He was jealous of Tracy for Link’s attention. He wanted Link to look at him that way, for him to waggle his eyebrows and smile up at him. He wanted Link…

At first it had been difficult to deal with his new emotions towards his buddy, but after dwelling on it for several weeks, Rhett finally concluded that there was nothing to be done. He liked Link, and as more than a friend. His only problem now was that he couldn’t do anything about it. He couldn’t tell anyone, certainly not Link. He couldn’t show his affection anymore than he had done in the past. Having those kinds of feelings towards another boy was considered wrong and perverted by everyone he knew. If he told Link how he really felt now… their friendship would be over and that would be the worst pain of all.

So when Link’s feelings were reciprocated, when he said in his own words that he liked Rhett too… it was the best feeling in the world. After such a long and lonely silence, Rhett was no longer alone. Link liked him, and now knew the feeling was mutual. They were still friends, the best of friends, it was just that now they were friends that liked each other. The only problem now was… where did they go from here?

For the most part, nothing seemed to change. After Rhett’s birthday party, and they went back to school on Monday, they acted just as they always had. No one seemed to know that the whole world was different now, in Rhett’s eyes. He felt like he was on cloud nine and he found himself constantly daydreaming about Link. Of course, he had done that quite a bit before knowing they both liked each other, but now the bitter sweetness of his own affections was gone, replaced by the pure elation that was a shared fondness. He was high on knowing that Link liked him back.

As for Link, things were a bit surreal. His own revelations about his personal feelings were far more recent and he was still sort of coming to terms with it all. It helped a great deal that Rhett felt the same way, but it was strange nonetheless. It was also very uplifting, a warmth that radiated from deep inside, yet wasn’t exactly a new sensation. Maybe it had been there for years, he’d just never really paid it any attention. Now he couldn’t help but noticed it, when they sat next to each other in class, when they hung out after school. Whenever they were together it was there, and it was wonderful.

Maybe it was because he was still working through whatever his new feelings were, but Link wasn’t as eager as his friend to find out what the next step was. He spent most of his time in the passing weeks alone, trying to figure out what he was now. Was he straight? Clearly not if he liked another boy. Was he gay? Not exactly because he found some girls attractive as well. It was all very confusing and he didn’t have much time to dwell on the future when he was trying to figure out the present. So when he and Rhett were sitting on the floor of his bedroom, doing their math homework, Link couldn’t seem to pick up on his friend’s subtle hints.

“Is your mom home?” Rhett wondered.

“Nah,” Link replied, not looking up from his homework. “She went out to buy some groceries, or something.”

“So… it’s just us?”

“Yep.”

“Huh. Cool.”

“I guess.” Rhett looked at his friend and quietly sighed. He was amazed that Link had ever gotten a girlfriend in the past. After a minute, he tried a different tactic.

“Do you have any gum?” he asked. Link had to really think about it before shaking his head, no. “Mints?”

“My mom might have some. Why?”

“Uh, n-nothing,” Rhett stammered. “No reason.” Link didn’t really buy it, but he was too busy trying to figure out his homework to push the issue. After a few minutes, Rhett got to his feet and stretched. “I’m gonna go use the bathroom. I’ll be right back.”

“M’k,” Link answered. As soon as Rhett stepped into the hall and closed the door behind him, he ducked into Link’s mother’s room. Sue, Link’s mom, would never have to know. It didn’t take him long to find a few altoids in the drawer by her bed. He found a few more… interesting things in there as well, but he left them well enough alone. 

When he walked back into Link’s room, he had a mouthful of the extra strong mints and was chewing away frantically. Link gave him a strange look as he sat down once more. 

“What are you eating?” he asked.

“Noffum,” Rhett mumbled, his mouth filled to the brim with the white tablets.

“If you’re hungry we have bacon bits in the cupboard downstairs.” Rhett swallowed a bit, clearing his mouth out some.

“I’m good.” Link sighed and went back to his homework. Rhett was being weird, even more than usual. 

‘ _Whatever,_ ’ Link thought to himself. ‘ _Let him be weird. I have work to do._ ’ They continued to work in silence, though Rhett seemed continuously preoccupied with his own breath. Even after finishing off the handful of mints he had grabbed, he kept lifting his palm to his mouth, breathing out and smelling in. After about ten minutes of this, it was getting a bit annoying and Link put down his pencil to talk about it.

“Are you okay, Rhett?”

“I’m fine. Why?”

“You…” Link sighed again. “You’re just… I dunno. Being weird.”

“Sorry.” There was a slight blush coming over Rhett’s face and he hung his head slightly as he looked down, away from Link. 

“You can talk to me, if you want. I, uh… I doubt there’s really any need to keep secrets from each other anymore, you know?” Link fidgeted a bit before continuing. “I mean, what else is there to hide?” Rhett thought about this then nodded in agreement. It was true there wasn’t much to hide these days. He was just nervous about what he had in mind. Scooting closer to his best friend, he resisted the urge to check his breath one last time.

“I just wanted it to be perfect,” he explained. Link felt his heart flutter and his pulse quicken. He couldn’t believe that after all this time Rhett could still make him deliciously nervous. It didn’t take much for him to send Link’s body into overdrive these days.

“What do you want to be perfect?” he asked, quietly. Rhett scooted closer until they were face to face.

“Uh, I guess we… I… um…” He took a deep breath. “I thought we should…” His words failed him and when he could no longer figure out what he should say, he decided to just go for it. Before Link knew what was happening, Rhett closed the short distance between them and pressed his lips right against Link’s. The kiss was sloppy, but soft and over far too quick. It was Link’s turn to blush as his friend pulled away. Rhett stared at Link with those lovely, green eyes, questioningly, wondering if he had done the right thing…

“W-well?” Rhett asked, when Link just stared back. “How… how was it?” Link licked his lips, considering, contemplating, before finally responding.

“Minty.” His friend giggled; that wasn’t exactly the answer he’d been expecting.

“Yeah… Sorry.”

“It was… different. Not like Amber at all.”

“That’s good... Right?” Rhett prodded, hopeful. 

“I think so.”

“Do… do you need me to… or want, I guess…” He didn’t want to pressure his friend more than he felt he already had. Maybe this was too fast, maybe Link wasn’t ready… maybe…

“Let’s do it again,” Link suggested with a smile. Rhett felt his heart leap and he smiled back. This time as he leaned forward, it was slower, more coordinated. Their lips pressed tenderly together and Rhett cupped Link’s jaw gently in his hand. He even risked letting his tongue poke out just enough to lick Link’s upper lip, relishing the taste of his best friend. When they parted, it was only because they had to breathe at some point.

“How was that?”

“Better,” Link answered, noncommittally. Rhett’s smile faltered and he tiled his head in confusion.

“But?”

“I think we need more practice.” He leaned in closer with a smirk. “A lot more…”

“Then we should start right away,” Rhett agreed, inching forward with a grin. “I want to get _very_ good at it.”


End file.
